Friday, 4 January 2019

There was panic on Thursday among passengers of Lagos-Port Harcourt-bound Azman Air flight when the aircraft had an emergency landing.

It was learnt that one of the engines of the aircraft failed mid-air.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737 with the registration number 5N-NAS had departed the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos to Port Harcourt International Airport (PHIA), Port Harcourt with 114 passengers onboard before the incident occurred.

A source close to the airline confided that the incident occurred at 10:57am today.

According to the source, 35 minutes into the flight, the pilot-in-command had informed the Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) at Port Harcourt Airport of the breakdown of one of its engines and declared emergency immediately.

It was gathered that the ATC approved the emergency status for the pilot, but the pilot in an attempt to land, missed the approach light and had to re-position again.

Within this period, it was learnt that there was a huge panic among the passengers who were already informed of the incident.

An unconfirmed report claimed that one of the wings of the aircraft had caught fire mid-air before one of the two engines collapsed in the air.

One of the passengers who narrated his experience on social media alleged that the pilot in command made several unsuccessful attempts to land before declaring an emergency.

The General Manager, Public Affairs, NCAA, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, confirmed the incident but said the aircraft landed successfully after the incident.

Adurogboye said the airline had alerted the regulatory agency of the incident and that its inspectors would check the aircraft to ascertain its level of damage.

He, however, said the airline had sent in another aircraft to airlift some of its passengers out of Port Harcourt to other cities.

He said: “It is a safety issue. The airline has alerted us of the incident. The fact is that the aircraft had an engine issue mid-air, but it was able to land safely at the Port Harcourt Airport. After the incident, the airline had sent in another aircraft to airlift its passengers from Port Harcourt.”

No official of the airline could be reached for comment as at the time of filing this report.